Science and Our Food Supply: Investigating Food Safety from Farm to Table

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MIDDLE LEVEL

MODULE 5:

 OUTBREAK AND FUTURE TECHNOLOGY 

OUTBREAK ALERT

  

(Shigella) 

PROCEDURE

1. 

Divide the students into 3 or 4 groups. 

2. 

Inform students that as FBI (FoodBorne Illness) investigators, 

it’s their job to work with their colleagues to identify the steps 

they would take to investigate this outbreak. 

3. 

Ask students: What do you know about this case? Have them 

analyze the existing data and record it in their food safety 

portfolio in the form of the 5 “Ws” (“Who,” “What,” 

“Where,” “When,” and “Why,” plus “How”).  

Note: 4 of the “Ws” were given in the teacher introduction. 

Who   –   21 people who became ill 

What   –  Shigella bacterium 

Where  –   Suffolk County, New York 

When  –   November 8 to December 8 

Why   –   ? 

4. 

Challenge each team to discover more details about the case. 

They should come up with more specifics on each “W,” then 

solve the “Why” and “How” of this case. For example: 

• 

What is Shigella? 

• 

How is Shigella transmitted? 

• 

Where in Suffolk County could this outbreak have occurred? 

5. 

Ask students: What do you need to find out first? To help 

them along the way, students can conduct research about 

outbreaks and Shigella (see the Resources section on page 

85). From time to time, you can also give them clues (see box 

at right for clues and the answers), but first allow the students 

to formulate their own strategies.